teleforce

Thanks for developing this handy reference.

Just wondering why holy books like Bible and Bhagavad Gita are included but not Tanakh and Quran? Is there any selection bias in the algoritm since all the popular holy books for main world's religions are frequently mentioned and recommended in HN.

Thanks, I probably skipped the subsequent paragraphs while browsing and reading due to multiple ads intersperse in between the articles. Anyway great finding of the ancient wheat species, and the mention of this miracle seven grains ears in Quran are more profound with several occurances in different contexts and analogies.

> All of the wheat types Grossi had previously seen grew only one such ear. But the tall wheat grew a full seven ears, always in the same pattern: a long one with six shorties bunched up around it like little fingers. Even the kernels themselves were bigger than those of average wheat. And unlike the typical pale-yellow wheat kernels, they came in a rainbow of colors—yellow, black, red, white and even green, sometimes all on the same stem. Grossi, a grain farmer his whole life, had never seen anything like it. “I thought it was a freak of nature,” he says. He couldn’t find a mention of it in agricultural books.

Thanks for sharing the story about this ancient wheat but I recall reading about this highly productive type of grains not in agriculture books but in holy books.

Fun facts, this type of miracle grain is mentioned in Abrahamic religions holy books namely Bible (Old Testament) and Quran.

In Surah Al-Baqarah (2:261), "The example of those who spend their wealth in the cause of Allah is that of a grain that sprouts into seven ears, each bearing one hundred grains. And Allah multiplies ˹the reward even more˺ to whoever He wills. For Allah is All-Bountiful, All-Knowing."

In the Book of Genesis (Genesis 41:5), "He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk."

This exact multiplication of deeds described in the Quran demonstrates the 700-to-1 ratio represents the actual biological maximum yield for that specific ancient wheat variety under optimal conditions.

All this while I thought the description is metaphorical allegory, but it seems originated from real grains of wheat phenomenon.

The scriptures specifically mentioned "sanabila" a type of grain with multiple ears branching out from a single stalk unlike rice paddy that's grow ears differently.

Another fun facts, in Arabic the word "sabil" meaning providing freely flowing water to travellers, and sanabila share the same root word, most probably derived from this very verse, because charity in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic is sadaqa.

Please note the only Quran in Chapter of Al- Baqarah (Female Cow) mentioned the analogy of multiplications for doing good deeds [1].

The other verses, one verse inside Bible in Chapter Genesis and two verses inside Quran in Chapter Yusuf (Joseph) refer to Egypt Pharaoh's or King's dream, respectively. This led to the introduction of the brilliant economic policy that saved Egypt kingdom from the severe famine that effect other sorrounding kingdoms at the time as per Yusuf's advice based on the correct interpretation of the King's dream [2],[3],[4]. Yusuf later become one of the appointed ministers of Egypt from the very humble beginning of a slave boy, and brought along other Jews to start migrating to Egypt.

Apparently Quran is more accurate since during prophet Yusuf time Egyptian rulers are called King not Pharaoh yet. Only later stage of Egyption Kingdom during Musa (Moses) time, Quran correctly refer to Pharaoh (meaning owner or king of great house) not King.

[1] Quran, Al-Baqarah 2:261:

https://quran.com/en/al-baqarah/261

[2] Bible, Genesis 41:5:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2041%3A...

[3] Quran, Yusuf, 12:43:

https://quran.com/en/yusuf/43

[4] Quran, Yusuf, 12:46:

https://quran.com/en/yusuf/46

Am I missing something, if you a paid subscriber, LLM service providers OpenAI/Google/etc by default will not trained on your input data unless explicitly allowed by the users.

If this is not enabled by default then it need to be the default policy within EU by the enforcement of GPDR, for example.

>Essentially, we’ve had no major forms of innovation in memory for three decades – SRAM, DRAM, and Flash as the only memory types in broad deployment

Not sure about that, does 3D XPoint or Optane memory count as new type of memory innovation, it's a joint venture between Intel and Micron [1].

[1] 3D XPoint:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_XPoint

>We would need all the intellect in the world to get the interface narrow enough to be usable,

It seems Dijkstra is describing potential calability of LLM model trained on published collective human knowledge enabled by the Internet

>and, in view of the history of mankind, it may not be overly pessimistic to guess that to do the job well enough would require again a few thousand years

Since the article was written in 1978 (about 50 years ago) and from the time the computing resources of CPU and RAM has increased exponentially until the LLM first appeared in 2020s, it seems the thousand of years prediction is merely several decades accelerated by the rapid advances of computer and communication systems technology spearheaded by companies like Nvidia.

Very apt comparison and analogy.

Fun facts, Abrahamic religions that are based on the Bible and Quran both claiming human are made from clay [1],[2].

In Hebrew name Adam, the very first human, comes from the word adamah, which means "ground," "soil," or "red clay".

In Arabic Adam, comes from the word adeem, means the surface of the earth or dust, reflecting the Islamic and Abrahamic tradition that Adam was created from the clay or dust of the ground.

By extension in Hebrew and Arabic the word Adam also means mankind and humanity.

[1] Genesis 2:7:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A7...

[2] Quran 7:12:

https://quran.com/al-araf/12

Why so negative?

History has shown that a very potent tool can improved and changed industry entirely for the better. People now seems to be more negative than when atomic bomb was invented.

Looked what happened when crane was invented and not only more houses are built faster but also high rise building suddenly become feasible with more human being employed in the construction industry than ever.

Please check this interview with Lewis Nicolle who created his own game engine with Dlang for his new game Art of Reflection, and why Dlang very much suitable for game engine development [1],[2].

[1] Why D Programming Language?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWQbYvPBTg

[2] Art of Reflection:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2290770/The_Art_of_Reflec...

>Coconuts grew in their native Maldives, in India, and perhaps parts of western Africa and the Middle East

None of the countries mentioned have coconut as native, its originated from the Malay Archipelago (East Indies) area. The common name for coconut from Philippines to Hawaii across the Pacific islands is nyiur/niu, and most probably brought along to Polynesian islands by the early settlements who speaks Malayo-Polynesian or Austronesian languages.

Fun facts, coconut name is a misnomer and it's originated from the Portugese, one of the first European in contact with coconut who thought it's a form of nut but actually it belongs to drupe or stone fruit family [1]. Specifically coconut is from the palm family and its fruit is mainly the kernel. Oil palm has similar kernel fruit but it's native to Africa.

[1] Nightmare Fruit: How the Coconut Got Its Name.

https://medium.com/@sixtybolts/nightmare-fruit-how-the-cocon...